Posted on 09/03/2013 9:59:16 AM PDT by My Favorite Headache
One of rock’s most distinctive and influential performers is calling it quits.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, legendary recording artist Little Richard admitted that, just a few months shy of his 81st birthday, he’s hanging it up as a performer. “I am done, in a sense,” he told the magazine, adding, “I don’t feel like doing anything right now.”
Troubled by sciatica and a degenerating hip, Little Richard (born Richard Penniman on Dec. 5, 1932) has performed sparingly in recent years and hasn’t always managed to play up to his usual standards. In June 2012, he was forced to stop a show, telling the crowd, “Jesus, please help me – I can’t hardly breathe. It’s horrible.” He recovered sufficiently to headline at 2013′s Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend, but that seems to have been a temporary reprieve.
According to the Rolling Stone article, he now spends his time designing clothes and praying — and thinking about the impact left by his groundbreaking early singles like ‘Tutti-Frutti’ and ‘Long Tall Sally.’ “I think my legacy should be that when I started in show business, there wasn’t no such thing as rock ‘n’ roll,” he mused. “When I started with ‘Tutti Frutti,’ that’s when rock really started rocking.”
A 65-year veteran of show business and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, as well as a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Little Richard helped lay the groundwork for scores of rock artists during the ’50s before announcing his retirement from secular music toward the end of the decade. Although he returned to his recording career during the following decade, he struggled to regain his commercial momentum, suffering through a few fallow years before reinventing himself as a steady live performer and studio sideman during the ’70s. His most recent LP, the Disney Records release ‘Shake It All About,’ was issued in 1992.
Done hell, I thought he was dead.
Good for him.
Tutti Frutti, indeed.
Good!!!!!!!!!!!
A little Tutti Frutti goes a long way.
“I Don’t Want to Discuss It” - Okeh Records (1966)
Seriously, if Elvis Presley was still alive today, he'd be younger than Little Richard. Little Richard was making records before Elvis even came on the scene! Now that's longevity.
And not a word about racism, God bless him.
t’aint easy being a legend.. but he pulled it off pretty good for a long long time..
Some of these modern performers have one hit and are instantly millionaires. Some of the people from the 50’s had hit after hit and really didn't come away with much at all.
A true legend and talent. For almost 60 years.
Youtube has all his hits and early videos of them.
He could always “rip it up”.
Another one of the “hardest working man in Rock and Roll.”
He performed here in Atlanta in 2005 or 2006 and my wife and I went to the show. He put on a great performance, played for about 90 minutes or so and did a lot of his hits of course. Even at his age, he could still play that piano, I thought the keys would start smoking at several points. What a great, great artist, I’m glad we saw him when we did.
He was making records when they were on blue wax tubes!
That dog in the old RCA ads? It was his!
My uncle loves doo-wop music and likes to attend a big annual festival with multiple acts on stage.
The organizers have announced that next year’s will be the last one, because they don’t expect anyone from the original acts to be alive much longer.
IMO, he had the greatest Rock and Roll band in the 50’s, The Upsetters. Having Grady Gains as lead sax man didn’t hurt either. His ‘Ready Teddy’ and ‘Good Golly Miss Molly’ drove all of us teenagers into a frenzy. Great top down convertible music.
Never quite one of my favorites, but he’s a legend, and he certainly could have spent time pushing a couple of political agendas, and instead all he did was push the music. I take my hat off to him!
Hahahaha....that gave me a much-needed laugh today. How I used to get a kick out of doing that with songs...but back then we had record players that had that feature.. :-)
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